Oblong Folio album (ca. 28x37,2 cm). 33 paper album leaves. With ca. 310 mounted original gelatin silver photographs from ca. 12,7x17,7 cm (5x7 in) to ca. 6,4x4,8 cm (2 ½ x 2 in). Most photos with period ink captions (in English) on the mounts, in negative, or verso. The front endpaper with the compiler’s typewritten text (“My Oriental Album”).  With ca. 12 printed postcards ca. 9,5x14,3 cm (3 ¾ x 5 ½ in), including one with a stamp, post mark, and a note on the verso: “Just a line to let you know I am still alive and going strong. This island of Bali in quite the spot! I’d like to stay here forever but guess I can’t!... Tom to Mr. + Mrs. P. F. O’Dell c/o USS Permit, US Navy Yard, Cavite, P.I.” Period custom-made black and brown full leather album; front board with a blind stamped image of dragons and a ship. Binding slightly worn, several photos missing, few images loose, but otherwise a very good album of strong, interesting photos.

Historically important collection of original photographs illustrating the life of American Navy sailors in the Philippines before the civilian evacuation and Japanese invasion in 1941.

According to the captions, the compiler was an American naval wife who accompanied her husband, "Tom," a sailor in the U.S. Naval Battle Force, during his service in the Philippines. The couple first traveled to Hawaii and Bali before being ordered to the Philippines as part of the U.S. military presence in 1939. In late 1940, with the escalating Japanese threat, families of Navy personnel stationed in the Philippines were instructed to evacuate to the United States aboard the SS Washington. The photographs indicate that the compiler evacuated alongside several friends, including “Alyce Harrison,” “Mary Mickey,” “Dorothy O’Dell,” and “Ethel Bushee” on the final evacuee ship in November 1940. On the way back to San Francisco, the ship encountered a severe storm and a scare when a rumor spread that a time bomb had been placed aboard. After a thorough inspection, the rumor was proven false, and the SS Washington peacefully arrived in San Francisco in December 1940 (Kingsport Times, Dec. 13, 1940, p. 4).

The album features over 290 heavily-annotated photos mostly taken in the Philippines, with at least one image showing the compiler with her friend Paul O’Dell. Paul, serving as chief radioman aboard the submarine USS Dorado, went missing on patrol duty in the Atlantic on October 19, 1943. He was officially presumed dead by the U.S. Navy in July 1945. O’Dell was survived by his widow, Dorothy, who is also featured in the album.

The Filippino series comprise ca. 200 photos, with about thirty well-executed photographs showing the compiler’s friends at their home on 19 Radio Road, Cavite. The images document both interior and exterior views of the house, contrasted by a dozen photographs of traditional Filipino nipa huts in the surrounding area.

About thirty well-executed photographs show original, pre-WWII views of iconic landmarks in Manila (University of Santo Tomas; Doors of St. Augustine; Jai Alai Building – demolished in 1940; Puerta del Parián - severely damaged during the Battle of Manila), Cavite (San Pedro Church, Dreamland Cabaret), Malolos (Barasoain Church), and Antipolo (Antipolo Cathedral - destroyed during WWII and later reconstructed). Most of the sites were either severely damaged or destroyed during the Japanese occupation in 1945. There are also several well-executed photos of local cemeteries, including Cañacao Naval Cemetery, Chinese cemetery with a monument of Pancho Villa and Philipino cemetery in Manila.

Over fifty lively vernacular photographs of daily life in pre-war Philippines show fiesta with locals in traditional attire enjoying ice cream, the bustling Yanko market filled with automobiles and carts weaving through crowds, Santa Cruz Bridge teeming with pedestrians, San Roque Street lined with numerous shop signs (Budweiser, Coca-Cola, People’s Store, Cuartel General Samonte Cajulis), a Filipina selling sweepstakes tickets, a funeral car adorned with flowers, and Igorot dancers performing at the Navy Yard. Especially interesting are well-executed close-up portraits showing an Igorot man with traditional costume and a “typical Filipino” proudly displaying his fighting cock.

The other photos from the Filipino series feature Cañacao Bay, Pan American Clippers, U.S. naval ships (SS President Cleveland, SS President Coolidge), Pasig River scenes, O’Dell’s Filipina housekeeper “Amada,” (two studio portraits), and the compiler with friends picnicking at Lake Laguna. The series concludes with around thirty important photos capturing the compiler and her naval wife friends bidding farewell to their partners on the Manila pier and scenes from aboard the SS Washington as they were evacuated back home.

The album also includes about forty photos of Hawaii, showing Royal Hawaiian Band, interior of the Waikiki Theater, a local woman in traditional dress, streets scenes, compiler’s friends, etc. 

The are also about twenty-five photos of Vietnam (house boats and sidewalk in Saigon), Sri Lanka (bread fruit trees in Colombo), Singapore (ball playing in water), India (Hindu Temple. Lake Temple, Tank of the Golden Lily, and Golden Tower in Madura), the Holy Land (excavation in Schechems, ancient site of Samaria, via dolorosa in Samaria), England (Ancient Castle in Taunton, Windsor Castle), Germany (Heidelberg Castle), and Scotland (Edinburg Castle).

Overall, historically important collection of original gelatin silver photographs illustrating the life of American Navy sailors in the Philippines before the Japanese invasion.